1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for inserting a terminal of an electric wire, into a terminal accommodating chamber of a connector housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
In manufacturing of a wiring harness for an automobile or any other movable bodies, various terminal insertion methods and devices have been conventionally used to insert a terminal 103 attached to an end of an electric wire 102 into a terminal accommodating chamber 101 of a connector housing 100 (see FIG. 16 and, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-92841).
A basic configuration and operation of the conventional apparatus designed to implement the conventional terminal insertion method can be roughly sketched as follows. The conventional terminal insertion apparatus includes a body, a holding jig configured to hold the connector housing, a wire clamping bar configured to hold the electric wire, and an insertion head configured to insert the terminal into the terminal accommodating chamber. The body of the apparatus is installed for example on a floor of a factory. The holding jig, which is mounted on the body of the apparatus, is configured to hold the connector housing 100. The wire clamping bar holds the electric wire 102 to which the terminal 103 is attached. The insertion head takes the electric wire 102 off the wire clamping bar, and inserts the terminal 103 into the terminal accommodating chamber 101 of the connector housing 100.
The terminal insertion apparatus and the terminal insertion method as described above, however, have a problem: When inserting the terminal 103 into the terminal accommodating chamber 101, the insertion head moves the terminal 103 lengthwise of the terminal accommodating chamber 101. This operation may cause the terminal 103 to get caught on a protrusion 101a on an inner surface of the terminal accommodating chamber 101 of the connector housing 100 with a particular part number (see FIG. 17). When the terminal 103 is caught on the inner surface of the terminal accommodating chamber 101, the conventional insertion head obstinately attempts to insert the terminal 103 further into the terminal accommodating chamber 101 toward a far end of the terminal accommodating chamber 101. This behavior of the insertion head causes the terminal 103 to become slanted, making it difficult or even impossible to insert the terminal 103 into the terminal accommodating chamber 101 fully and completely (see FIG. 18). The worst case scenario is buckling and bending of the electric wire caused by the insertion head attempting to insert the terminal 103 that has been caught by the protrusion 101 a forcibly into the terminal accommodating chamber 101. Unfortunately, such a bent or deformed electric wire is defective.